The subject matter described herein relates generally to supersonic compressor systems and, more particularly, to a supersonic compressor rotor for use with a supersonic compressor system.
At least some known supersonic compressor systems include a drive assembly, a drive shaft, and at least one supersonic compressor rotor for compressing a fluid. The drive assembly is coupled to the supersonic compressor rotor with the drive shaft to rotate the drive shaft and the supersonic compressor rotor.
Known supersonic compressor rotors include a plurality of vanes coupled to a rotor disk. Each vane is oriented circumferentially about the rotor disk and defines a flow channel between adjacent vanes. At least some known supersonic compressor rotors include a supersonic compression ramp that is coupled to the rotor disk. Known supersonic compression ramps are positioned within the flow path to form a throat region and are configured to form a compression wave within the flow path.
During starting operation of known supersonic compressor systems, the drive assembly rotates the supersonic compressor rotor at an initially low speed and accelerates the rotor to a high rotational speed. A fluid is channeled to the supersonic compressor rotor such that the fluid is characterized by a velocity that is initially subsonic with respect to the supersonic compressor rotor at the flow channel inlet and then, as the rotor accelerates, the fluid is characterized by a velocity that is supersonic with respect to the supersonic compressor rotor at the flow channel inlet. In known supersonic compressor rotors, as fluid is channeled through the flow channel, the supersonic compressor ramp causes formation of a system of oblique shockwaves within a converging portion of the flow channel and a normal shockwave in a diverging portion of the flow channel. A throat region is defined in the narrowest portion of the flow channel between the converging and diverging portions. Wider throat regions facilitate establishing supersonic flow in the throat region during startup, but, decrease performance at steady-state. Narrower throat regions facilitate steady-state performance, but, increase a difficulty of establishing the supersonic flow in the throat region. Moreover, many known supersonic compressors have fixed throat geometries. Known supersonic compressor systems are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,334,990 and 7,293,955 filed Mar. 28, 2005 and Mar. 23, 2005 respectively, and United States Patent Application 2009/0196731 filed Jan. 16, 2009.